Built to Sell Radio is a weekly podcast for business owners interested in selling a business. Each week, we ask an entrepreneur who has recently sold a business why they decided to sell their business, what they did right and what mistakes they made through the process of exiting their business. Built to Sell Radio is the ultimate insider's guide to approaching the most important financial transaction of your life.
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Ep 438 Brian Dean, "SEO Genius", on Getting $5 Million for Backlinko, a One Employee Company
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Brian Dean has been called an SEO genius for his search engine optimization courses, so it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise when Semrush, a publicly traded SEO software company, came knocking. What was surprising was that Semrush paid $5 million for Brian’s one-employee company.
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Ep 437 Escaping the Service Business Trap with John Rood
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This week we’re featuring an interview with John Rood, who built Next Step, a test prep business that helped students prepare for the medical school admissions test (MCAT). John Rood built Next Step to almost $10 million in revenue, with EBITDA margins ranging from 20–40% before selling to New Harbour Group, a private equity business doing a roll-u…
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Ep 436 Turning Down a Quarter Billion Dollar Offer From State Farm with Payam Zamani
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This week we’re bringing you an extraordinary story of resilience and determination as we delve into the lives of Payam and Frank Zamani. Starting their American dream with a mere $75, the brothers embarked on a venture that led to the founding of Autoweb, a groundbreaking lead generation service in the auto industry. Autoweb’s journey to success r…
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Ep 435 From Freelance Consult to 8-Figure Exit in Seven Years With Ned Macpherson
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Ned MacPherson started helping clients optimize their websites back in 2016. Demand for Ned’s time quickly outpaced supply, so he started building a team. Within seven years, Ned had 70 employees, more than $2 million a year in EBITDA, and multiple acquisition offers.By John Warrillow
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Ep 434 Sticky: How Jordan Van Schyndel Grew His Service Business to More Than 30 Employees Without Having Anyone Quit Before He Sold It
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Jordan van Schyndel grew his service business to more than 30 employees without having anyone quit. He credits his unique culture for the loyalty of his team. Ultimately it was that team that caught the attention of Spiria, which offered to acquire van Schyndel’s business.By John Warrillow
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Ep 433 The Million Dollar Call with Alexx Leyva
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In 2015, 25-year-old Alexx Leyva was traveling around Thailand when a shocking phone call brought him back to the United States to take over his father’s $3 million business. Over the next five years, Alexx and his brothers tripled the company and ended up selling it for more than $20 million.By John Warrillow
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Ep 432 The Acquisition Entrepreneur with Steve Divitkos
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In recent years, "entrepreneurship through acquisition" courses at Ivy League MBA programs have surged in popularity, outshining traditional classes in marketing or corporate finance. This trend reflects a shift in aspirations among students, many of whom now prioritize acquiring a business over roles in consulting or banking. As a business owner, …
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Ep 431 Dealmaker: Carl Allen on How to Sell Your Business to an Individual Investor
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When it comes to your endgame, what’s your highest priority? Do you want to maximize your personal wealth and walk away? Or do you want to de-risk but keep some chips on the table? Or is your highest priority protecting your culture, your employees, and the legacy you have built? If your goal is to protect your culture, then selling to an individua…
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Ep 430 Building a Life After a 9-Figure Exit with Anastasia Koroleva
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Anastasia Koroleva is an experienced entrepreneur and former technology company CEO. After her first nine-figure exit, she went on to start three more businesses. Today she is the host of the podcast, Exit Paradox, where she talks to some of the most remarkable founders in the world about the lessons they learned about life after selling a business…
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Ep 429 10 Times Revenue for a 9 Employee Company with Michael Lieberman
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Michael Lieberman built Datastay, a software company that helped brake manufacturers and distributors catalog their models. The application proved sticky with parts manufacturers, which is why Autodesk made an acquisition offer for Datastay of more than ten times its revenue despite Datastay having just nine employees at the time of the acquisition…
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Ep 428 Adam Coffey on the Private Equity Playbook
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Adam Coffey spent 21 years as a CEO of three national service companies backed by nine private equity sponsors. During that time, he completed 58 acquisitions and generated more than one billion dollars of value at exit. Adam’s book, The Private Equity Playbook, is a bestseller, and on this episode of Built to Sell Radio’s “Inside the Mind of an Ac…
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Ep 427 Inside the Mind of a Service Business Acquirer with Jason Swenk
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Jason Swenk sold his marketing agency in 2011. Since then, he’s transitioned to the role of an acquirer, purchasing nine agencies. With experience on both sides of the negotiating table, Jason reveals his unique perspective on how to sell your service business.By John Warrillow
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Ep 426 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer with Valsoft's Joe Khoubbieh
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Joe Khoubbieh is the Chief Investment Officer at Valsoft, one of the most prolific acquirers of software companies in the last few years. In 2023 alone, Valsoft completed 25 acquisitions in 10 countries. In total, Valsoft has acquired 95 companies and paid the founder 100% of their proceeds in cash in all 95 deals. In this week's episode of Built t…
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Ep 425 The Downside of Selling to Private Equity With Mark Zweig, 3 Time Inc 5000 Honouree
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In this episode featuring Mark Zweig, we explore the aftermath of selling his company, The Zweig Group, to a private equity group. Zweig Group, known for serving the architecture industry with magazines, reports, and trade shows, achieved remarkable growth, landing three times on the Inc. 5000 list. At its peak, the company reached $19 million in r…
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Ep 424 Basem Hanna on Getting $25 Million for TerrAscend
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all the rage these days, but do you remember the cannabis craze? Basem Hanna sure does. He rode that wave to perfection, leaving his cannabis startup with a cool $25 million and shares that could be worth double that one day. This week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio is a no-holds-barred chat (yep, expect some stron…
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Ep 423 How Aaron Leibtag Got $15 Million for a 15-Employee Company
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Aaron Leibtag cofounded Pentavere Research Group, a digital health company that identifies patients not receiving the medications or interventions they should be receiving because critical data is buried in a patient’s electronic health record. Despite having just 15 employees, they attracted an acquisition offer that valued Pentavere at $15 millio…
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Ep 422 2023 End of the Year Special: Top 10 Strategies for Building the Value of Your Company and Punching Above Your Weight in a Negotiation to Sell
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This week on Built to Sell Radio, we highlight the top strategies from the 10 most popular shows of 2023. In this episode, you’ll learn how to: · Grow your email list. · Compete with industry giants. · Replace yourself inside your business. · Implement a three part strategy for hiring high-potential employees. · Get your customers to fund your grow…
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Ep 421 How to Create Recurring Revenue with Robbie Kellman Baxter
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If you've ever wanted to create recurring revenue inside your business you'll want to listen to today's episode of Built to Sell Radio. The show is the third in our three-part expert series and features a conversation between John Warrillow, the author of The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in any Industry, and Robbie Kellman B…
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Ep 420 Hasard Lee on Thinking Clearly Under the Stress of Selling Your Business
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Negotiating the sale of a business sale is intense and emotional for founders. Clear thinking is vital. In our second expert series installment, we feature Hasard Lee, a renowned clear-thinking expert. Lee, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, authored the international bestseller, The Art of Clear Thinking. This Wall Street Journal bestseller, #2 in U.…
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Ep 419 CHRIS VOSS on Negotiating the Sale of Your Business
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This week we have a special treat: an interview about negotiating the sale of your business with Chris Voss, the bestselling author of Never Split the Difference. Chris used his many years of experience in international crises and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique approach to negotiation and this week, he talks about how his approach app…
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Ep 418 Selling a Service Business, Avoiding an Earn Out, Outperforming Industry Average Multiples, Rebutting a Lowball Offer and Going From Start up to Exit for a High Single Digit Multiple of EBITDA in ...
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Kiran Merchant spent decades as a consultant to the aviation industry, so when a boss refused to grant him an $8,000 raise, he decided to leave his employer to start his own aviation consulting firm. Eighteen months later, he sold Merchant Aviation to Aeroport de Paris, one of the largest aviation companies in the world for a high single digit mult…
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Ep 417 Greg Romanzo on Hiring, Training, and Retaining Sales People in a Commoditized Business
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Greg Romanzo and his partners spent 17 years growing a freight forwarding business. As the company expanded to 200 employees, the partners faced a realization: their decisions now impacted 200 families. This responsibility became overwhelming, and they decided to sell.By John Warrillow
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Ep 416 Chip Conley on Selling the World’s Second Largest Boutique Hotel Chain, Coming Back From the Dead, Mentoring Airbnb Co-founder Brian Chesky and How to Find a New Purpose After You Sell
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Chip Conley built the world's second largest boutique hotel chain to 3500 employees, but after a near death experience, Chip realized he wanted out. Chip went on to become Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, where he mentored co-founder Brian Chesky. Conley went on to create MEA -- the Modern Elder Academy -- the world's first ‘midlif…
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Ep 415 Jason Cohen on Starting Two Unicorns Worth More Than $1 Billion; Deciding When to Sell, the Freedom Line, Box Games and Whether It’s Better to Be Rich or King
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Jason Cohen is the founder of both SmartBear and WP Engine, both companies that have achieved a valuation of more than $1 billion, making them “unicorns” in the parlance of Silicon Valley. This is our first installment in a series we’re referring to as Legends of the Deal, which will chronicle the life lessons of extraordinary achievers in the worl…
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Ep 414 Lessons From 3 Failed Attempts to Sell Greenpath and How a 7 X EBITDA Deal Finally Got Done
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Josh Anhalt started GreenPath Energy in 2007 to help oil and gas companies detect methane leaks in their pipes. Over the years, Josh tried and failed to sell his company three times only to have each deal thwarted for a different reason. By 2023 GreenPath was generating more than $8 million in revenue when they finally agreed to be acquired by a co…
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